Connections

A three day architectural workshop from May 18-19, 2018 to re-imagine 81.2 acres near downtown

"what if....?"

Friday, May 18

An evening of inspiring CONNECTION talks from the planners, architects, and landscape architects who’ve created New York’s Hudson Yards, the largest development in Manhattan since Rockefeller Center. These talks are open to the public and are designed to inspire those who live, work and play in Raleigh to be bold and forward-thinking in the development of this growing metropolis.

Saturday, May 19

A day-long architectural CHARRETTE with teams of architects from North Carolina and New York City, exploring future possibilities for the sites where Raleigh’s Central Prison and Morehead School for the Blind are located, on 81.2 acres north of Dix Park. Consideration will be given to Raleigh’s economy, connectivity, and design – for the good of its people and its environment.

Sunday, May 20

A presentation and discussion of charrette results, including team visions for the sites and connections to neighboring properties and beyond. Invited guests will include the design community, civic officials, developers, property owners and the public – especially young professionals making Raleigh their home. The goal is for resulting conversations to continue after the presentations.

CHARRETTE program and scope includes Amazon Headquarters, market rate and affordable housing, hospitality, food, open space, other amenities, a new Governor Morehead School of the Blind, and a new transit plan capitalizing on roads and rail.

Members of ACTIVATE NC invite you to share your ideas on contemporary multi-family housing concepts that satisfy ‘the Missing Middle’. The Missing Middle describes a scale of infill multi-family development that may fit appropriately within single family neighborhoods while providing greater density in Asheville’s urban core. These multi-plex structures may resemble larger single family structures, the scale of which falls somewhere between the single family city cottage and larger multi-family structures, like apartment buildings. The City of Asheville has identified “The Missing Middle” as a key infill housing strategy to help with the community’s housing shortage. Asheville’s initiatives to accommodate Missing Middle projects can be found here. Current state of Asheville housing is detailed here: Asheville Housing Market challenges.

Join ACTIVATE NC and ACTIVATE Charlotte for a special presentation as they announce the winners of the Urban Housing Competition. Come to Center City Auditorium (320 E. Ninth Street) and hear from local panelists and jury chair Frank Harmon, FAIA on urban housing. Light snacks and beer/wine will be served. Please RSVP below.

ACTIVATE NC invites you to share your ideas on contemporary housing in the inner city. The competition encourages a housing type that blends different income levels and demographics and helps knit together the fabric of the city. A building boom of multifamily housing is underway in many of our growing cities , but very little of it is designed for its place or program. From Charlotte to Seattle, multifamily housing tends to look the same. This competition asks entrants to create a design that embraces diversity, that is designed specifcally for a site in Charlotte, and that is a good neighbor to small scale houses, streets, and light commercial and industrial buildings that comprise the neighborhood.

Streets for People Panel Discussion: Designing Streets for Pedestrians and CarsThe public is invited to attend a panel discussion and learn how decisions on transportation are made, what designs are working and not working, and how you can be more involved in the decisions making process.